“Man is a noble animal, splendid in ashes, pompous in the grave.” Really there should be colon after animal. — Clive James quoting Sir Thomas Browne

There are many contributory bctors to the wide spread of funerary
monuments across early nineteenth-century Britain, and their increasing
export to India and the West Indies: the rapid growth in the number of
churches, the hangover of medieval attitudes to death, the social influence
of the church, the nation's readiness to go to war, the social obligation to
believe in Christian resurrection, the primitive state of medicine, and thus
the inability of the wealthy to buy more effective treatment. The natural
consequence of the wealthy buying commissions for their sons in the army
and navy was the timely appearance of church monuments when they were
killed. Away from the heat of battle, sickness and death would also make
their way, late or soon, through all classes. . . . Funerary sculptors' markets were aided by England's
unique canal and river system, at the peak of utility in the 1820s and 1830s. .
To move a 10-ton monument from London to the Midlands, for example,
meant a short wagon journey along hard city roads to the Paddington or
Pimlico canal basins, followed by a frictionless passage as far as you liked.
— James Hamilton